greeting
sign
off
General outline for letters/emails
Greeting:
Dear Sir/Madam,/Dear Mr/Mrs/
Ms Smith,
•
serious, impersonal style
(e.g. I
was pleased to hear that you
are in good health.)
•
complex sentence structure –
frequent use of passive voice
– no phrasal verbs – no
colloquial English – advanced
vocabulary – no short forms
(
e.g. The item in question,
which I received last week, was
damaged in transit.)
Sign off:
Yours faithfully/Yours sincerely,
Peter Brown
FORMAL STYLE
Greeting:
Dear Mary/Aunt Sue/Dad, etc
•
friendly, relaxed, personal
style
(e.g. Thanks so much for
your last letter.)
•
frequent use of colloquial
expressions, idioms, phrasal
verbs, short forms
(e.g. It
’
s
been ages since we hooked up.)
•
pronouns are often omitted
(e.g. Thought I
’
d drop you a line.)
•
use of literary devices
(e.g.
You
’
re as stubborn as a mule
sometimes.)
Sign off:
Best
wishes/Love/Yours/Regards,
Peter
INFORMAL OR
SEMI‒FORMAL STYLE
• Style in informal and
formal letters/emails
■
Letters/Emails
can be informal, semi-formal or formal,
depending on who you are writing to. There are quite a few
types, such as:
invitations, accepting or refusing invitations,
asking for or giving information, job applications, complaints,
apologies, asking for/giving advice, giving news, expressing
thanks/regrets/congratulations,
etc.
■
Before you start writing a(n) letter/email it is important to think
about who you are writing to. This will help you to decide how
formal/ informal the letter/email will be.
■
Informal letters/emails
are sent to people you know well
(
e.g.
friends, relatives, etc
)
. An informal letter/email should consist of:
• an
informal greeting
(
e.g. Dear Tony/Uncle Bill/Mum, etc
),
• an
introduction
in which you write your opening remarks and
the reason for writing
(
e.g. How are you? I thought I’d drop you
a line to let you know …
),
• a
main body
in which you write the main subjects of the
letter/email in detail, starting a new paragraph for each topic.
• a
conclusion
in which you write your closing remarks
(
e.g. I’d
better go.
),
• an
informal ending
(
e.g. Love/Yours/Best regards ,+ your first name
).
■
Semi-formal letters/emails
are normally sent to someone you know
but are not intimate with
(
e.g. your friend’s parents, a distant
relative, etc
)
. Semi-formal letters/emails contain:
•
formal greetings
(
e.g. Dear Mr and Mrs Jones,
)
•
informal endings
(
e.g. Best wishes/Yours, + full name
)
• a
respectful tone
, depending on the relationship you have with
the person
•
pronouns
should not be omitted and idioms should be used carefully
■
Formal letters/emails
are normally sent to people in an official
position or people you don’t know well
(
e.g. Director of Studies,
Personnel Manager, etc
)
. A formal letter/email should consist of:
• a
formal greeting
(
e.g. Dear Sir/Madam,
– when you do not
know the person’s name;
Dear Ms Smith,
– when you know the
person’s name),
• an
introduction
in which you write your opening remarks and
mention your reasons for writing
(
e.g. I am writing to apply for
the position of …
),
• a
main body
in which you write about the main subjects of the
letter in detail, starting a new paragraph for each topic,
• a
conclusion
in which you write your closing remarks
(
e.g. I
look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible …
),
• a
formal ending
(
e.g. Yours faithfully,
– when you do not know
the person’s name;
Yours sincerely,
– when you know the
person’s name)
followed by your full name.
Paragraphs 2, 3:
development
Paragraph 1:
opening
remarks,
reason(s) for
writing
Paragraph 4:
closing
remarks
MODULE 1
22
